Interactive: 10 defining moments in Asheville history

A look back at some of the defining moments that shaped Asheville's history. Navigate the dates using your mouse or the small blue arrows.

1792

1807

1822

1837

1852

1867

1882

1897

1912

1927

1942

1957

1972

Foundation and early years

Asheville gets a start - and a name

Buncombe County was created in 1792, after William Davidson and his family came to the area seeking revenge for his brother Samuel's death by a band of Cherokee hunters. In 1793, John Burton laid out 21 acres for a town site known as Morristown. The name of the settlement was changed to Asheville, honoring then-North Carolina Governor Samuel Ashe. The town was incorporated in 1797. In 1827, the Buncombe Turnpike was completed. The new roads allowed economic revolution in western North Carolina and opened Buncombe County to the commercial markets of the South. The construction of the Turnpike brought the first large African-American population to the area as labor.

Train rolls in

First train brought an economic boom

The first train from the Western North Carolina Railroad arrived at the little station of Asheville Junction, in what is now Biltmore Village, in October of 1880. This sparked an economic boom - bringing people and money to the city. Growth of manufacturing, resorts and tobacco sales soared and Asheville's fame spread as a tourist and health resort. Once very isolated, the railroad provided a direct connection to the outside world.

Grove comes to Asheville

Benefactor helped put region on the map

Edwin Wiley Grove came to Asheville in 1897 for health reasons. He was a Tennessee-born millionaire who made his fortune in the pharmaceutical business. His Grove's Tasteless Chill Tonic and Grove's Laxative Bromo Quinine were patented medicines familiar all over the world. Before he died in 1927 at the age of 76, he had seen the construction of such landmarks as The Grove Park Inn, Battery Park Hotel and Grove Arcade building. Grove's first development effort in Asheville was the residential area he started on land he bought in the northern edge of town. He named it, appropriately enough, Grove Park.

A national icon is constructed

Biltmore house comes alive, later opened to public

Biltmore House, one of the showplaces of the nation, is the architectural masterpiece erected as the home of George W. Vanderbilt in 1895. The mansion, following the lines of French Renaissance chateaux, was designed by New York architect Richard M. Hunt. The landscape setting of the edifice and the layout of the estate was planned by Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of Central Park, New York. Originally opened to the public in March 1930, the house was closed with the start of gasoline rationing on Jan. 9, 1943, and reopened March 15, 1946. During World War II, 62 paintings and 17 sculptures were moved by train from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. to protect them in the event of an attack on the United States.

Flooding washes away Asheville

Flooding washes away notable landmarks

As water poured into Asheville from the French Broad and Swannanoa River, area residents took refuge on stairs near the old Southern Railway Passenger Station on what is now Depot Street in July of 1916. More than 29 people were killed in the disaster that caused property damage that reach the $3 million mark and left the city without power or provisions for day. Riverside Park, a popular amusement park was washed away. After the flood, there was no effort to rebuild the park by the original developer, the Asheville Electric Company.

Asheville makes impact on a president

Roosevelt visits, pledges to invest, and delivers

President Franklin D. Roosevelt stopped in Asheville on his way to address a Democratic rally in Charlotte, stayed overnight at Grove Park Inn and addressed a large crowd at McCormick Field after a tour of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1936. It was his first visit to the park. In 1933, his interest in the park led to authorizing the expenditure of $1,500,000 for its completion. In his address at McCormick Field he said, "Yesterday and today I am carrying out a promise to myself made nearly thirty years ago that I was last in Asheville, and in those days I said to myself that I wanted to come back -- I wanted to see all this marvelous country and go up into these Great Smoky mountains."

Freeway modernizes city

Crosstown expressway opens in Asheville

The idea for a crosstown thorough-fare for Asheville originated during the 1920s. But it wasn't until October 1960, when Asheville's Crosstown Expressway officially opened, that the plans became a reality. Construction on the 1.86-mile strip that linked Beaucatcher Tunnel and Smoky Park Highway Bridge began on July 7, 1958. Total cost for the project was $6 million.

Bond burning ceremony

Asheville celebrates getting out of debt

A bond burning ceremony was held at the Asheville Civic Center to mark the final payment after 40 years of a $56 million debt accumulated in the 1920s and '30s by Buncombe County and the city of Asheville. Beginning in the 1800s when the county invested in a railroad to Spartanburg, S.C., and leading to the day in 1930 that Central Bank closed. It took six more years , including several faulty plans to produce a plan for debt repayment which ended on July 1, 1976, 40 years to the day from when the bonds were issued.

Bele Chere begins

Festival helped put downtown back on the map

The first Bele Chere festival was launched by the Asheville Reviatalization Committee with $20,000 donated by four local banks in 1979. At the height of its popularity, Bele Chere drew tens of thousands to downtown streets for a beer, a turkey leg or funnel cake and sun-splashed free concerts. The festival ended its run in July 2013, after 29 years. City leaders decided not to fund Bele Chere in 2014 in part because of disenchantment expressed by downtown merchants, employees and some residents, who struggled with business, parking, and vendor competiton during the three-day party. No doubt, the festival helped with downtown Asheville's rebirth.

Asheville's secret out of the bag

City and region start to top 'live here' lists

In 1982, Richard Boyer and David Savageau, authors of the "Places Rated Almanac" compared 277 metropolitan areas in the U.S. and determined that Asheville was rated the most livable small city in the country. They based their findings on nine criteria: climate, crime, housing, education, health, recreation, arts transportation and personal income. In December 1983, "Places Rated Retirement Guide" by the same authors, rated Asheville second in best retirement locations in America. The books confirmed what was evident to old timers here as well as newcomers -- that Asheville has a lot to offer. The 1980s and '90s saw revitalization of much of downtown and growth and development, as well as an influx of newcomers to live here.